Bookmobile Services

The first Lane Libraries Bookmobile hit the road in 1938 providing library services to people who had trouble getting to a library building. The Bookmobile Department continues to fulfill its mission to bring library resources to under-served communities by partnering with organizations, schools, and communities throughout our service area.

The Bookmobile visits daycares, preschools, elementary schools and middle schools on a regular basis. Services vary depending on the school, the time and space allotted, and the availability of Bookmobile resources. From selection and delivery of classroom collections to monthly bookmobile visits, and even weekly holds delivery, the Bookmobile means something different to every school we serve. For more information about services to educators and schools, please see The Lane Libraries’ Educators Page.

Services to rest homes and retirement villages are usually arranged through an Activities Director, or through another staff member if no Activities Director is available.

Deposit Collections
If you prefer to let your community members browse at their leisure, and you have a staff member who can be designated as point person, the Bookmobile Department also provides deposit collections on a monthly basis. Bookmobile staff will work with you to determine what mix of items will best serve your community then collect and deliver them once a month.

Selection and Delivery
If monthly Bookmobile visits won’t work out due to schedule constraints, consider inviting residents of the community to place holds with the Bookmobile Department. We’ll collect holds, check them out, and deliver them monthly. We’ll pick up your returns at the same visit! The Bookmobile Department can accept specific requests (such as specific titles or authors) or general ones (for example, “John Wayne movies” or “large print mysteries”). Residents can either place requests with a staff member within the community or with a Bookmobile staff person.

Book ClubsThe Bookmobile Department will work with book discussion groups at senior communities to determine how we can choose, collect and deliver books to meet your needs.

Regular Stops
The Bookmobile visits 4 different locations on a weekly or biweekly schedule. Patrons can expect nearly all of the traditional services they find at a library branch, including signing up for a new library card, browsing a collection of materials, picking up holds, and renewing or returning items. As of June 2014, the Bookmobile will no longer accept payments for fines or fees. These can now be paid online with a credit card or at a branch with check or cash.

Special Events
The Bookmobile can appear, as our schedule allows, at community events, festivals and parades throughout the year. Bookmobile staff can provide traditional library services, and may even be able to include story times and/or crafts based on the audience, theme and schedule of the event.

Raise A Reader
In October 2013, the Bookmobile Department used grant funding and additional funding from the Friends of the Library to start the Raise A Reader program in conjunction with Fort Hamilton Hospital. Each family born at Fort Hamilton now receives a free age-appropriate board book, an information sheet on the importance of early literacy, and a voucher for fine-free children’s book checkouts from the Lane Libraries. Funding is currently being researched to implement Raise A Reader in Oxford- and Fairfield-area hospitals as well.

Book Box donations
Since the summer of 2013, the Bookmobile Department has given away thousands of discarded – but readable – books to countless organizations across our service area. Recipients of book boxes have included SELF, St. Raphael, LifeSpan, Butler County Care Facility, Juvenile Detention Center, Animal Adoption Foundation, local food pantries and pediatrician’s offices, Great Miami Valley YMCA, and many more. The Bookmobile Department also makes regular contributions to Little Libraries in Hanover Park and elsewhere.